


The Stans vs La Llorona

by Pinesfamfan



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M, Scooby Doo like shenanigans, Sea Grunkles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:54:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29462349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinesfamfan/pseuds/Pinesfamfan
Summary: The Stans stop in Mexico to investigate the legend of La Llorona, and come to realize that they might be in a little over their heads.
Relationships: Ford Pines/Stan Pines
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	The Stans vs La Llorona

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NightFoliage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightFoliage/gifts).



> A gift for nightfoliage for the Tumblr Stancest Valentine Exchange 2021.
> 
> Thank you to my awesome friend black_bobcat for being my beta!

It was a warm, sunny day in the coastal town of Mexico where the Pines twins had docked the Stan-o-War 2. Stanley Pines was wearing a casual floral button-down shirt, and Stanford Pines had even deemed to roll up the sleeves of his sweater.

As always, Ford was toting a journal and excitedly explaining to Stan the newest anomaly he wanted to investigate. He read from his journal as Stan guided him by the elbow away from any obstacles that might trip his easily excitable older brother.

"La Llorona is a legend that comes from Mexico. There are many different stories as to how she manifested, but they all agree that many years ago, a woman was slighted by her lover, and drowned her own children as revenge. After realizing the horror of what she had done, she took her own life, and now her spirit is said to haunt the streets of Mexico. Many have claimed to have seen a woman dressed in white, crying for her children. She only appears at night, and is commonly spotted by bodies of water, most likely with the intent to drown her victims”

“And we’re actively seeking this lady’s ghost out because…?” questioned Stan, as he navigated Ford around a churro stand. 

“Because I must investigate this anomaly! A ghost that has been seen by many throughout an entire country? And there have been sightings in the U.S. and many countries in Central and South America as well. It’s never been heard of for a ghost to manifest in so many places! I must find out how she transports to so many places. This ghost must be at least a level 5!”

“Maybe she’s been ‘seen’” said Stan, making air quotes, “in so many places because parents don’t want their children playing outside at night in unsafe countries.”

“That is a possibility I have considered,” replied Ford, “but this town has had some children disappearing lately, and witnesses claim to see a ghostly white figure.”

“And let me guess: we’re going to be talking to some of these witnesses?” questioned Stan, one eyebrow raised in the direction of his twin brother.

“Exactly! And here is our first stop,” said Ford, sweeping his six-fingered hand at the door of a home they had stopped at. He knocked, and the two brothers waited for an answer.

Finally, a middle-aged woman answered the door. “¿Sí?” she asked, taking in the two handsome older men at her door.

Ford cleared his throat “Hola, señora,” he said in an accent that made Stan wince. “Mi hermano y yo quieren hablar con su niño sobre las desapariciones.” 

“Yeesh, Sixer, you sound like you learned Spanish through a textbook.” Remarked Stan. “Let me handle this, ok?”

“Wait, wha-” Stanford was able to stammer, before his brother moved him aside and started talking in a smooth tone.

“Hola, Señora, investigamos a los niños secuestrados. Queremos hablar con tu hijo para ayudar a encontrar a los niños desaparecidos. ¿Está en casa?” (Hello ma’am, we’re investigating the missing children. We’d like to talk to your son to help find them. Is he home?)

Ford looked incredulously at his brother. “Where did you learn to speak fluent Spanish?” He asked, completely flummoxed.

“Pretty sure I mentioned going to prison in Colombia at one point to ya, Poindexter,” Stan answered, raising an eyebrow at his brother’s surprise.

“You did,” replied Ford evenly, “but I didn’t associate that with you learning to speak an entire language!”

“Heh,” replied Stan, “guess there’s still some things you don’t know about me, smart guy.” He countered this last sentence with a smile and a wink as the witness, who looked to be about eight years old, appeared.

Stan translated as Ford questioned the kid. After some questions from Ford, the men learned that the boy’s friend was taken after a ghostly-looking woman appeared just north of the town, next to the river. After the interview was done, the older men excused themselves as the boy’s mother escorted them to the door.

As they were walking, Stanford let out a startled yelp. Stan looked at him questioningly, but Ford remained silent and shook his head.

After the woman had shut the door, Stan turned to his brother, “What was that all about, Sixer?”

“That woman pinched me as we were leaving!” Responded Ford indignantly.

“‘What?! Where?!” Said Stan turning around, ready to take on anyone who hurt his brother.

“On the butt,” responded Ford, embarrassed.

“Oh,” said Stan, mollified, as he continued to his brother’s side. “Can’t say I blame her. It is your best feature,” he said flirtatiously.

Ford made a strange choking noise as his face turned a rosy color. Stan slung his arm around his brother. “So where to next, Poindexter?” he asked, not even bothering to hide the smirk growing on his face.

Ford took a second to collect his thoughts, and directed them to the spot where the boy had said his friend was taken.

It looked like an idyllic spot next to the river to Stan, but his nerdy older (by 15 minutes) brother was sketching out the scene and taking notes in his journal. Stan simply enjoyed the silence as his brother continued. 

After about 15 minutes, Ford snapped his journal shut. “Well, we’ll have to wait until nightfall for anything to truly happen. It looks like we have a couple of hours until then,” he said, looking up at the late afternoon sun. 

“That’s plenty of time to find a bar and get a couple a shots of tequila in, then!” replied Stan, rubbing his hands together.

Ford frowned at that. “Getting inebriated before ghost chasing doesn’t seem like the best decision, Stanley” he remarked.

Stan chuffed at his brother’s answer. “Ah, I just wanted to see your reaction, Poindexter,” he said as he slung his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “We should probably see about restocking supplies on the boat.”

Ford agreed, and they spent the next few hours around the town, haggling with shop owners as they secured items for the Stan-o-War II. Finally, the sun was sinking below the horizon. 

“Let’s make our way back to the spot by the river” Ford said, after Stan had finally convinced him to try some elote, which seemed to be a corn on the cob with mayonnaise and other spices on top. It didn’t seem the most nutritious food to Ford, but it was surprisingly good.

They made their way back to the river as the sky grew darker. It didn’t seem as peaceful as earlier to Stan. The water rushing by sounded like it could sweep someone away in the current, never to be seen again. The old, dead tree that seemed like a great place to tie a swing on earlier now looked like a good spot for a woman with a guilty conscience to hang herself, especially with the long, sturdy branch that poked out over the water. The wind picked up, and Stan, who was usually the warmer of the twins, shivered from the cold. 

Ford had put on his brown trench coat and slipped his journal in an inside pocket. “So what do we do now, Poindexter?” Stan whispered (he would never admit it out loud, but he was afraid to speak out loud at the moment). 

“We wait,” his brother grimly replied, as a sudden gust of wind blew his coat around him.

They didn’t have to wait long. With the whisper of the wind, the men heard a faint voice wailing, “¡Mis hijoooos!”

All of the hairs on Stan’s body (of which there were a LOT) stood on end. The voice grew louder. “¡Mis hiijoooos!” And from behind the tree floated a ghostly figure in a white dress, with black sockets where there should have been eyes.

Ford was whispering in a reassuring voice, “my research says that she’ll charge at us, trying to throw us in the river. When she’s almost upon you, hold the mirror I gave you in front of you. It will trap her spirit, and she can’t harm you.”

“Got it,” replied Stan, grabbing onto the handle of the silver mirror Ford had presented to him earlier that day.

(“For me? Aww, you shouldn’t have, Sixer!”

Ford affectionately rolled his eyes at his younger twin. “It’s for catching the ghost, ya knucklehead!” He had said with a smile on his face.)

The memory of his brother’s smile helped Stan feel more grounded and dispelled some of his fear. At that moment, the ghostly woman screamed, “¡MIS HIIIIJOOOOOS!” and charged at the men. As she came closer, they held up their mirrors, but the spirit must have known something was up. Stan and Ford were swept into what felt like a small tornado that lifted them up and started moving them in the direction of the rushing river. Stan started panicking; there was no way they could swim against that current. 

As the tornado brought them over the rapidly moving water, Ford reached into one of the many inside pockets of his trenchcoat. He pulled out an apparatus that looked like a gun, grabbed Stan, and shot at the tree. “Hold on!” he yelled to his brother. The grappling hook pulled the men out of the tornado and deposited them safely at the foot of the tree.

Stan breathed a sigh of relief. “A grappling hook, eh?” he said with a smile. “Taking a page from the great-niece’s book?”

Stanford grinned back. “I made a few adjustments of my own, but the stories of Dipper and Mabel’s escapades made me realize how useful one could be.”

Their moment of peace was unfortunately short-lived. “MIS HIIIJOOOS!” Shouted the spirit, as she rushed at them again. Stan and Ford scrambled to separate, and the spirit went through the tree. She turned as Stan shouted at Ford, “Ok, what’s the new plan?”

“Let her charge you and intercept her with the mirror?” Ford asked, more than stated, as the ghostly woman glided swiftly toward his brother.

“Not gonna happen!” Stan shouted, as he ran away from the ghost charging angrily toward him. “Can’t you use your blasty gun thing on her?” 

“Hmm, that might work,” Ford mused as he watched his brother dodge the homicidal apparition. A plan forming in his brilliant mind, Ford lay his silver mirror on the ground and started climbing the tree. “Stanley!” he shouted. “Try and get the ghost under me! I have a plan!” 

“Right,” panted Stan, as he turned around and dodged the claw like hands of the ghostly woman chasing him. God, he was too old to be chased around by ghosts. But, since his life kind of depended on it, he found the strength to keep running back to the tree his brother had climbed, La Llorona still behind him.

Meanwhile in the branches of the tree, Ford prepared his blaster and waited. As soon as Stanley passed under him, he pulled the trigger. He heard an unearthly squeal as the ghost was pushed into the mirror by the force of the blast, and then blessed silence. Even the river next to them seemed to slow with the passing of the danger.

Stan was hunched over, panting. “Oh God, everything hurts. Why did I eat all those churros?!”

As Ford climbed down from the tree, he heard a metallic thunk! when his foot hit a lower branch. Curious. Experimenting, he pushed down on the branch with his foot. As the branch lowered, he heard a grating sound from the ground. “What the-!” he heard his brother exclaim.

When Ford nimbly touched the ground, he saw what had startled his brother. Where there was once untouched grass, there was now a square hole in the ground. Fascinating! As Ford neared the hole, he saw a ladder that lead most likely to a chamber below ground. It reminded Ford of his own underground bunker in Gravity Falls. He and Stanley had to investigate! After Stanley recuperated from his overexertion, of course. Ford went to his brother and put a soothing hand on his back. “You did great, Stanley! I could have never captured this spirit without you!” Stan waved his hand at his older brother as he waited for his breaths to slow.

Ford patiently waited while his brother caught his breath. When Stanley was ready, they climbed down the ladder to the secret underground cavern. They silently followed a passage which opened up into a large underground cave. What the brothers saw made their blood run cold. 

They had found the missing children. They were locked up in cages, like animals. There were two men who seemed to be guarding the children, with large guns in their hands. Ford was so furious, for once he didn’t even think. Moving swiftly, he pulled out his blaster and quickly stunned the two men, only firing twice.

Stanley gave a low whistle. “Nice shooting, Tex. Where’d ya learn to do that?”

Ford gave an embarrassed smile. “I guess there are some things about me that you don’t know, either” he returned with a wink. Stan smiled at his brother as he slipped his arm around him. 

“Well after all this is over, we’ll have to go on a proper date to get reacquainted.” 

Ford gave his younger brother a sweet smile that made his old heart flip. Stan turned to the two men laying on the ground with a snarl on his face. “But first, we need to take care o’ these guys.”

“Right!” said Ford. He found a rope and tied them together, backs to each other as Stanley picked the locks of the cages and freed the children. He pointed them to the exit and joined his brother as he contemplated the two men on the floor. 

“When we get out of here, we should let the local authorities know where these men are,” Ford suggested.

Stan looked at his brother sadly. “I doubt they’re going to do much, Sixer. These men have probably been paying off the local police for a while.” 

Ford looked back to the men, frustrated. He wanted these men to pay for what they had been planning to do to those children! His hands formed into fists, and brushed against the silver mirror he had tucked into his coat. The silver mirror that contained the spirit of-

“La Llorona…” Ford muttered, as he pulled out the mirror. Stanley looked at him questioningly. Ford stared into the hollowed out eye sockets of the spirit that silently looked up at him. His brain started filling in some very large gaps. “Seen in so many places, close to water, where children could easily fall in. She supposedly takes children, but she led us to this place. It’s almost as if…”

“She’s not just one spirit,” Stan finished for him, picking up on what Ford was saying.

“Exactly,” Ford said, his mind whirling excitedly. “Maybe La Llorona isn’t the spirit of one mother, but many, who might have lost their children in horrific ways. She haunts places that are dangerous to children. And this spirit,” he said, gesturing to the mirror, “was trying to keep children away from this place so that they wouldn’t be taken.”

“If I were her, I’d be pretty pissed off at these assholes for taking some innocent kids.” Postulated Stan. “Angry enough to wanna get revenge…”

Ford smiled grimly. “You’re right, Stanley. I would absolutely want to get some revenge. In fact, let’s head back up to the surface, so she can get some alone time with these men.”

Satisfied, the two walked back to the ladder. Once they had climbed back up to the surface, Ford dropped the mirror and smiled as he heard it shatter, followed by an unholy wail. He could just make out the screams of the two men that had incarcerated the children. Dusting off his hands, he turned to the children. 

“Let’s get you home,” he said with a kind smile.

_ _ _ _ _

After all the children had been united with their parents, Stan and Ford were having a hard time keeping their eyes open. 

“Ugh, let’s head back to the boat and get some shut eye. Then we should call the kids and let them know about our adventure” Stan said as he took his brother’s hand.

“Sounds like a plan,” replied Ford. “Do you still have that phone they got you?”

“Yep, right here,” said Stan, pulling a new Iphone from his pocket. Stanford took it and started inspecting it and humming to himself.

“I’m glad to know Steve made some useful things with that company he started up.”

Stan stopped walking to look at his brother. “What, did you personally know Steve Jobs?”

“Yes, Fiddleford introduced me to him during college. I even put down some money to help start up his company.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Stan said, a strange light entering his eyes. “When you say you ‘put down some money,’ does that mean you have stocks in Apple??”

“I believe so” replied Ford contemplatively. “That was the plan once the company was formed.”

Tears started forming at the edge of Stan’s eyes. Then, with a determined look, he picked up his brother and started carrying him, bridal style, to the boat (which, admittedly, wasn’t that far now).

“Stanley, what are you doing?” Ford demanded.

“Taking care of my rich, big brother!” Stan joyously exclaimed. “You remember that date we talked about? We’re going to the closest five-star restaurant, and I am going to wine and dine you! Have I mentioned how much I love you?”

As Stan talked excitedly on his way back to the boat, Ford just looked up at him and smiled. Although his younger brother acted like he loved money the most, Ford knew he treasured his brother above all else.


End file.
